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Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, John Helmer, Roger D. Harris September 18, 2022

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded September 17th and 18th, 2022.

This week past, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency officially demanded Russia relinquish control of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, or (ZNPP), and “all nuclear facilities within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders” into the hands of “competent Ukraine authorities“. The Russian-held nuclear plant has been repeatedly shelled and was too the target of a Kiev commando-raid. The IAEA’s investigation on the status of the plant, and now this report, are precedent-setting for the agency, but not a departure from the recent trend toward politicizing international agencies to serve the interests of America and NATO.

John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past professor of political science, sociology, and journalism and has served as advisor to governments at the highest level. Helmer has spent decades living in and reporting from Russia, and among his many book titles are: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’.

John Helmer in the first half.

And; even as the UN’s IAEA and OPCW are co-opted against their mandates into the service of the war-state, so too countries big and small are strong-armed to bend their laws to suit the aims of the United States. Witness Great Britain’s abandonment of the Magna Carta in the Assange case, or Canada’s deplorable political arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and two-plus year torturing of logic and jurisprudence required to keep her imprisoned. What chance then do smaller countries like Sweden, or Iceland, or Cabo Verde have when their leadership receives a call from Uncle Sam?

In the latter’s case, that phone rang when Venezuelan diplomat and businessman, Alex Saab’s plane landed for refueling in the tiny African nation, en route to Iran. Today, Saab languishes in an American prison cell for the crime of challenging imperial power.

Roger D. Harris’ long civil rights activism career encompasses the teaching political science at a Historical Black College in Mississippi in the 1960’s and community organizing in East Harlem, New York City.

Today, Roger’s a Wildlife Biologist and conducts eco-tours with the Oceanic Society, but he still has an oar or two in the activist waters; sitting on the board of the human rights organization, Task Force on the Americas, and serving on the executive committee of the US Peace Council, among others. His political essays feature online at CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, Mint Press News, Popular Resistance, and at the Task Force on the Americas site, where I found his recent article, ‘Possible Prisoner Exchange in US Hybrid War Against Venezuela‘.

Roger Harris and freeing Alex Saab in the second half.

But first, John Helmer and the IAEA’s use as an instrument of one party in conflict.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing since 1999; in Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: cfuv.ca. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Denise Nadeau, John Philpot October 28, 2021

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded October 23rd, 2021

September 30th this year marked the first commemoration of National Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada. The date coincides with Orange Shirt Day, a popularly created remembrance of First Nations children kidnapped by the state and brutalized in the Residential Schools system. But the idea of Truth and Reconciliation is far broader than the schools, or any single aspect of the country’s colonial past; because whether you and your family arrived in Canada five, or five hundred and five years ago, you’re a part now of the continuing occupation of someone else’s home.

Denise Nadeau is an educator, scholar, and activist working at the intersection of somatic therapy, spiritual practice, decolonization, and racial justice. She is of mixed European heritage from Quebec and the author of the new book Unsettling Spirit: A Journey into Decolonization. She’s also an organizer with the Calls to Action Scavenger Hunt: In Search of Truth and Reconciliation event, to be held Saturday November 6th in James Bay.

Denise Nadeau in the first half.

And; Julian Assange is not the only prisoner of American extraterritorial lawfare. Alex Saab is a Colombian businessman, international “fixer”, and diplomat. A deal maker, Saab put his considerable talents towards aiding besieged Venezuela evade the illegal and deadly U.S. blockade to provide medicines and other much needed goods to the country. Though you wouldn’t know any of that watching the Western press who, as with WikiLeaks publisher Assange, has smeared him with politically motivated lies.

John Philpot is a Montreal-based defense attorney in International Criminal Law. Long active in Palestinian and African support organizations, the peace movement, and recent campaign to free political prisoner, Meng Wanzhou, Philpot too was a member of the Free Alex Saab delegation presenting to the annual African Bar Association meetings in Niger just days before Saab was extradited from Cape Verde last week.

John Philpot and America courting war in the second half.

But first, Denise Nadeau on the hunt for truth and reconciliation in our home on native land.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ken Stone, Joe Emersberger September 2, 2021

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Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded August 28th and 29th, 2021

Faerie tales always begin with a great wrong done. The evil deed, invariably committed by some grand Potentate or schemer to the throne often entail endungeoning a hero or heroine seen as a potential threat to power. What make Faerie tales different and apart from the tedious litany of yarns about injustice meted by the mighty upon the heads of the meek is that, more than being merely about crimes against the innocent, these universal and enduring stories detail the greater – and unforgivable – crime against innocence itself. Today this country, Canada is the villain in just such a grim story; but it’s no faerie tale, it’s the true-life case of Meng Wanzhou, held captive in Vancouver a thousand and more days.

Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition joined forces with online investigative journalism site, The Canada Files and rank and file Canadians upset with the country’s legal traditions traduced in this case to pursue the nation-wide FREE MENG WANZHOU campaign. They say,

“… it’s clear to Justice Holmes as well as Justin Trudeau, his entire cabinet, and indeed the whole world, Meng Wanzhou has committed no crime…”

Ken Stone in the first half.

And; if Meng Wanzhou is an entowered princess-prisoner of a petty tyrant eager to please a larger monster, Alex Saab is a knight errant, mired in that monster’s own web of intrigue and mass murder. Saab was in the service of besieged Venezuela, en route to Iran, another nation similarly blockaded by America, when he was intercepted by Cape Verde authorities and thrown into prison there. More than a year later, Alex Saab sits still in that prison awaiting the local judiciary’s decision on his appeal of its acquiescence to extradition requests by the United States.

Joe Emersberger is a Canada-based engineer, writer, activist, and co-author with Justin Podur of the newly released book, ‘Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media and 20 Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela‘. Emersberger’s articles, focusing on the Western media’s coverage of the Americas, can be found at FAIR.org, CounterPunch.org, TheCanary.co, Telesur English, and ZComm.org, where his recent piece, ‘Alex Saab, Afghanistan, and the limits of US power‘ appears.

Joe Emersberger on Alex Saab and the increasing diplomatic acceptance of American atrocity in the second half.

But first, Ken Stone and making an election issue of the odious Canadian case against Meng Wanzhou.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com